Trial Underway For East Valley Residents Accused Of Murdering Canadian Businessman

A Canadian businessman was beaten and nearly decapitated in a robbery-murder conspiracy involving five people in Indio, a prosecutor told jurors today, but lawyers for three of the defendants countered that there was no conspiracy and their clients weren’t responsible for the murder.

Jackie Lynn Dunson, Fernando Antonio Benavidez and Ronald Wesley Handwerk are the first of the five defendants to go on trial for the Nov. 26, 2007, slaying of William George Dobbs of Tsawwassen, British Columbia, who owned a vacation home in Indio.

Co-defendants Rogelio Leon Zuniga and Robert Lee Dunson, Jackie Dunson’s brother, are scheduled to be tried in June.

Deputy District Attorney Christopher Ross told jurors in his opening statement that Benavidez’s job was to find a victim, Jackie Dunson was the “bait” and the other three men were the “muscle, they were the enforcers.” “All of them had their parts,” the prosecutor said.

Benavidez met Dobbs at the Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella and took the 48-year-old victim to Jackie Dunson’s apartment on Sage Street in Indio, where Dobbs expected to pay her for sex, Ross told the jury.

“He didn’t get sex, he got 1,000 pounds of pain,” Ross said, noting that the male defendants were heavier and taller than Dobbs.

Handwerk and Robert Dunson choked, kicked and punched Dobbs until he gave them his credit card and PIN number, the prosecutor alleged. The beating broke four of the victim’s ribs, puncturing internal organs, according to Ross, who said Dobbs pleaded for mercy, saying, “Oh God, please somebody help me, please somebody help me.”

Dunson also put a plastic trash bag over Dobbs’ head and secured it with duct tape, the prosecutor alleged.

Jackie Dunson and Handwerk then drove Dobbs’ Cadillac Escalade to a bank to withdraw cash, he said. Zuniga and his girlfriend, Melissa Johnson, later used the card to withdraw around $1,200 from several ATMs, according to the prosecution.

Ross said Robert Dunson and Handwerk became concerned that Dobbs could identify them, so Dunson and Zuniga threw the victim into the back of his Escalade and drove him to a dump near Dillon and Landfill roads in a remote area of Indio.

Dobbs’ hands were tied and the trash bag was still on his head when the men slashed his neck 14 times, the prosecutor alleged.

“His head was almost decapitated, a piece of skin holding it on,” Ross said.

Dobbs’ body was discovered the next day, but his wallet and credit cards were never found.

Brenda Miller, Benavidez’s attorney, said her client is guilty of pimping and pandering, but that’s it.

“When he met Mr. Dobbs, his work was done … he takes Mr. Dobbs to the apartment, and that is the end of Mr. Benavidez in this case,” she said in her opening statement.

She said Johnson, who allegedly overheard some of the defendants planning the robbery, was coming off a four-day crystal meth high, making her memory and credibility “quite suspect.”

Handwerk’s attorney, Arnold Lieman, said if there was a conspiracy, his client didn’t know about it.

“No matter how small you make this room (in the apartment), he didn’t hear this conversation … he woke up to a fight,” Lieman told the jury.

He said his client admitted hitting Dobbs once, but when he found out what was going on, he wanted to leave.

“As horrendous as this crime may be, as horrendous as the injuries may be, Mr. Handwerk was not part of a conspiracy and did not murder Mr. Dobbs,” Lieman said.

Joshua Mulligan, Jackie Dunson’s attorney, said there were “problems” with the prosecution’s witnesses, especially Johnson, who was granted immunity for her testimony.

“She has a lot of problems with her memory, which she attributes to years of pressure … there was a lot of pressure put on her by the prosecution and law enforcement in this case,” he said in his opening statement. “As you can imagine, her statements evolve over time. In her initial statement, there’s no mention of the planning of any robbery.”

He said Dobbs died a gruesome death, but “Jackie Dunson didn’t do that.” “She never touched anybody in a harmful or violent way at all,” he said. “… When Robert Dunson put a bag over (Dobbs’) head, she tore holes in it and told him it was going to be OK.”

Robert Dunson could face a death sentence if convicted, while the other four defendants would get life in prison without the possibility of parole if found guilty.